


Pull Me Out Or Let Me Drown

by EdenPrince



Category: Killjoys (TV), Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Child Abuse, Gen, Jedi Dutch, Origin Story, Pre-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Psychological Trauma, Sith Aneela, Unethical Experimentation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27935149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdenPrince/pseuds/EdenPrince
Summary: Aneela and Dutch, royal twins separated at birth and born with strong connections to the Force, are taken in by opposing sides. Stolen away by her traitorous father Khlyen under the influence of the mysterious Lady, Aneela has only known Darkness and conflict. In response to the kidnapping of her other daughter, Dutch’s mother Yalena places her under the care and tutelage of the Jedi Order.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 5





	1. 0. Traitor

**Author's Note:**

> This is just me messing around with Killjoys in the Star Wars universe because I’ve been watching the movies. Aneela has mad Anakin potential, while Dutch definitely resembles Luke (but is way less camp haha). This fic is more of an origin story, sort of in it’s own bubble but also pre-Empire. I’m still pretty new to the Star Wars universe but I’m having a lot of fun experiencing it for the first time.

“Yalena, don’t be so nearsighted. The Lady has real power, resources beyond what the Senate is willing to provide,” Khlyen Kin Rit spoke softly as he held his wife’s hands in his own. “There is only so much sway I have as Seyon of Qresh with the Senate breathing down my neck.”

“How can you trust this Lady? You have never seen her, nor have you any reason to believe that her intentions are as harmless as she says,” Yalena knew her husband’s keen mind would one day lead to darkness. “I do not approve. And I will not allow you to use our daughters in your experiments with the Force.”

“I am not seeking approval, dear heart,” Khlyen placed a gentle kiss to Yalena’s forehead before letting go of her hands and leaving their room.

Yalena was worried, she needed an audience with the Jedi Council. Perhaps they would know more about The Lady and what to do about her husband.

* * *

“I thank you for meeting with me on such short notice,” Yalena bowed deeply to the Jedi Masters before her. “But I fear that my husband Seyon Kin Rit has involved himself with someone we cannot trust. I must know if you have ever heard of The Lady.”

“The Lady? I’ve heard no such name,” Master Windu answered with a frown.

“Hidden she stays,” Master Yoda spoke. “But why, I know not.”

“She’s promised my husband power and resources to conduct experiments. While he has not done so yet, he means to use our daughters. I’ve been told they are Force-sensitive.”

“Bring them here, and we will see for ourselves,” Master Windu said. “If what the Lady says is true about her influence, Seyon Kin Rit must not take them.”

It wasn't until Yalena was on her way home from Coruscant that the call came in.

"Seyah Kin Rit… I… The palace, the Princesses…" The Captain of the royal guard panted through the hologram, face covered in cuts and ash - the connection was glitching.

"What of my daughters?! Are they safe?" Yalena's heart thundered in her chest, ears ringing and blood pumping.

"Princess Aneela- The nursery… Droids!" The Captain's words were garbled before the connection finally cut off.

"Pilot, hurry!" Yalena barked, desperate to get back to Qresh and praying that both her daughters were safe and unharmed.

* * *

Khylen's footsteps echoed through the underground passage of the palace, a small bundle of blankets in his arms. While he was the one to order the droid attack on his own home, he wasn't expecting it so soon. 

He wasn't prepared when they started slaughtering his guards, when they broke through to the east wing where the nursery and royal chambers were. There was only time to grab one child before the spider-like droids blasted through the nursery. The other crib was still secured and covered, the child would be safe.

"One day your mother will understand, the Senate will understand. The whole galaxy will know the Kin Rit name Aneela, and we will be worshipped."

Khlyen kept running, the jagged walls of the tunnel growing narrower and narrower. He couldn't go back, not until he'd succeeded in his research. He'd prove the Senate wrong, and he’d prove Yalena wrong too.


	2. 1. Afflicted

Dutch's face was scrunched in concentration, hand outstretched as she attempted to lift a large boulder more than twice her size. Sweat slid along her brow and dripped down her cheek. The nine year old watched as the boulder rose, trembling under the Force. She held it for two long minutes before it dropped back to the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“You’re getting better and better, kid,” Master Joseph Cyano smiled at one of his brightest students. “Keep practicing and you’ll go far.”

“I should have been able to hold it for longer, I know I’m stronger than that,” Dutch huffed as she kicked at the dirt beneath her foot.

“That may be true, but do not disregard your achievements no matter how small,” Master Cyano responded before moving on to the next student.

Dutch sat back down with her peers, resting her chin on the hand propped up on her knee. She watched as one student after another practiced lifting rocks and boulders of varying size - none, Dutch noted rather proudly, as heavy as the one she had chosen. The monotony of waiting for her peers lulled her into a daydream, eyelids drooping.

‘ _Papa?_ ’ A trembling voice echoed in Dutch’s mind, accompanied by blurred visions of a young girl writhing. It wasn’t coherent. A flash of hands and feet shackled, the incessant hum of machines, the feeling of bugs crawling beneath her skin. ‘ _Papa!_ ’

The anguished scream jolted Dutch from her daydream, leaving her panting and rubbing the uncomfortable feeling away from her skin. It wasn’t the first time she’d had these daydreams, each one different in the things she heard and saw, but the feeling was always the same. Crippling loneliness, sadness, sometimes intense, acute rage. What Dutch often felt the most after these dreams was pain, lingering deep within her soul. It was a lot for her still developing brain to process.

“Dutch, are you alright?” Master Cyano asked as he came to sit by her side.

“I’m fine,” Dutch nodded, although she still scratched at her forearms.

“Was it another dream? Perhaps you should speak with Master Yoda when you see him next,” Joseph prodded gently, knowing that Dutch wasn’t really one to open up.

“I don’t need to speak to Master Yoda,” The young girl refused politely.

“Okay, but if this happens again in my class I will send you to him.”

“Yes, Master Cyano.”

* * *

“She’s been having dreams again and she still does not want to speak to you about them. Is there anything you can sense, Master Yoda?” Joseph had approached the Grandmaster at the end of the day when all the younglings were safely in bed.

“Pain and suffering, I sense. Hm,” Yoda paused thoughtfully, closing his eyes. “But belong to Dutch, they do not.”

“Then who? Someone must be reaching out through the Force.”

“They are clouded by darkness. I cannot see. In the light, we must keep her,” Yoda opened his eyes again and looked up at his fellow Master. “Goodnight, Master Cyano.”

Joseph bowed and took his leave. Yoda sighed and shook his head before taking a seat. It was already late in the evening but he needed to think. If the young girl’s connection was with who he suspected, the fate of the galaxy would fall heavily on Dutch's shoulders.


	3. 2. Vassal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Teatimee for being the best beta! Honestly wouldn't have been happy with this chapter without your input!

Aneela shook violently on the examination table, needles and tubes poking out of her body. Her mind was fragile from years of torture being her father’s experiment. 

Sixteen years of living within metal walls, being poked and prodded, abused at the hand of her father. It was no surprise that Aneela became a husk. She once thought Papa to be loving and caring. It had been different when she was a young child, his hands and words kinder. The stories he often told her, grand adventures and futures all within her reach, gave her hope to one day rule by her father's side. 

She laughed, ugly and loud, at how foolish she was. The deranged laughter blended with harsh sobs, the movement tugging at the tubes that siphoned her very being. Her skin stung as if little bugs were clawing and tearing at her from the inside out. 

Khlyen always had a front row seat to the show, sitting comfortably behind the glass, his eyes flickering between her and the various monitors beside him. Every time Aneela was strapped to the table the Lady was always lurking, face masked just out of sight under her black hood.

Aneela had stopped begging into the void years ago, as no one would come searching for her. It used to ache when her prayers went unanswered. She needed to be resourceful, needed to bide her time. The Lady wanted her for more than these experiments, and Aneela knew that it was only a matter of time before something would change.

“I think that’s enough for today, Aneela. Thank you,” Khlyen smiled as he stood from his desk, and the hum of machinery finally stopped. Aneela gasped heavily and slumped back against the sweat-slicked examination table. Hot tears of frustration lined her eyes but she refused to let them fall. How could she be so weak when she held so much power?

He stepped from behind the glass though the air-locked doorway to remove the tubes and needles, his hands familiar with the process from many years of practice of inserting and removing them from his daughter. Small worker droids assisted him, holding the young woman down and patching up the open wounds. This particular session had taken longer than usual and Aneela felt weaker for it, barely able to swat away a droid that hovered too close to her face. The droid let out a warning beep, drawing the attention of Khlyen who shook his head.

“Now, now, Neely.” The nickname always triggered that small corner of her mind that knew a kinder, sweeter Khlyen from her early childhood. “You need to rest." 

Khlyen stroked Aneela’s cheeks almost lovingly. It was the small moments like this that often confused Aneela, her younger self trapped in the dark recesses of her mind relishing in the contact while shame of present Aneela filled in the remaining emotion. She could barely keep her eyes open.

"Time for bed, I think." Khlyen lifted Aneela to her feet, "I'll need you again tomorrow. I'm close to a breakthrough."

Aneela remained silent and expressionless, refusing to show any more weakness, as her father guided her out of the laboratory and into the elevator. The ride back up to the surface was always long, allowing her time to zone out and recover before the walk back to her room. The doors eventually opened, leading out to an enclosed pathway on the planet’s surface. Arkyn was a dying moon that orbited Qresh, and it was the only home she knew. The planet was cold and barren, blanketed by snow all year round, worn from asteroids that buffeted its surface.

The manor looked more like a sterile space station carved into the cliffside of a crater, with sharp angles and no character. It was something both Khlyen and the Lady constructed when she was just a baby, made for function rather than aesthetics. The pathway back to the manor was slow, but her father’s steady, insistent hand kept her going. Aneela’s head tilted up to avoid the fluorescent lights that lined the pathway, and her eyes scanned the stars above. The soft, glittering spots made her heart clench with a longing to leave and never come back.

One day she would be free and she would make her father pay.

After an age, Aneela and Khlyen finally arrived at her bedroom door. He eased her into bed and tucked her in. She was so exhausted, mentally and physically, unable to muster the strength to push her father’s hands away. The somewhat comforting stroke to smooth her hair out of her face further regressed her to her younger self. 

“Papa…” Aneela muttered, head leaning into the touch.

“Shh, Neely. Let me tell you a story,” Khlyen began, his voice quiet and gentle, “When the nights were long and the days were deep, there was a girl. That girl had a gift that could change the galaxy.”

Khlyen looked down at his daughter, ready to continue the story, but her eyes were already closed, her chest rising and falling with even breaths.

* * *

_Aneela_.

The cold, invasive voice was immediately recognisable and it echoed into the dark, endless surrounds. The Lady appeared in front of her surrounded by a cloying mist, her face once more hidden beneath her hood. Wisps of cold air brushed against her skin, almost like fingertips, while the Lady walked circles around her.

_You've been so good for me. Your Papa experiments on you, tries to tamper with the Force. But it's all pointless. He doesn't realise just how much power he could have if he let you flourish._

Aneela tried to speak but found that she couldn't. Her whole body was frozen stiff. Her heartbeat picked up, the beginnings of a panic attack brewing. The air grew thicker, curling around her body much like the restraints that often bound her to her father’s examination table.

_I want to teach you, Aneela. Will you learn from me? You could be free to do as you please. No one could ever hurt you again._

The words seeped into Aneela's body, pinpointing her deepest desire. _Freedom. Safety._ The Lady stopped in front of her, levelling her gaze with the young woman in her grasp. The Lady’s large pupil-less eyes drew Aneela into the endless black abyss. Mesmerised, the only thing she could do was nod, the rest of her body was still paralysed.

 _Very good._ The Lady sounded pleased. _I will show you the way._

Then Aneela was falling, and she gasped when she awoke.


End file.
